Who we are

Blooming Whiteway is run by Claire Loder & Jude Rice - here's a bit about us and how it all started:

Claire

After years of waiting for a house with a decent garden my family and I moved to Whiteway in 2015. Loving the brilliant bushes full of birds that boarder the drive but less enamoured with our barren block paving, I started looking for front garden inspiration. Realising that so many homes on the estate had a front garden of one sort or another and watching the birds and other creatures buzz and fly around our estate's network of hedgerows, wild spaces and places an idea began to form in my mind about a front garden festival! After a bit of googling and five months of research, meetings and making connections with the growing community in Bath and beyond I set up Blooming Whiteway Front Garden Festival in Jan 2017.

Jude was on board from early on (we met at Bath City Farm where she volunteered) with advice and general enthusiasm for all things growing & community! She's the gardener, I'm the artist - but I was brought up on a smallholding and my parents are growers so I have greenish fingers! It's a work in progress as is our front garden.

Jude

I've grown up around plants people, from family friends with plant nurseries to my green fingered grandparents and I'm always happier outside in the dirt than anywhere else! I'm especially interested in growing as a way to connect and share knowledge with people about food and nature.